10 Video Games So Good They Ruined Genres

7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3 is often cited as one of the greatest games of all time, and for damn good reason.

It is a game so committed to its astonishing storytelling and world-building that there are literally side quests with more nuance and detail than you'll find in the critical quest-line of other mainstream RPGs.

Released in May 2015, the game took the open-world RPG to new heights, filling its world with truly meaningful content rather than the expected fetch quest filler nonsense, not to mention a huge cast of endearing and memorable characters.

Going back to Bethesda's Skyrim or delving into Fallout 4 after playing The Witcher 3 illustrates just how shallow and barren those games are by comparison.

CD Projekt Red's RPG masterpiece nails the perfect balance of player freedom, with peripheral content that doesn't just feel like soulless busy-work.

You're doing yourself a disservice if you haven't poured dozens of hours into the game beyond the main story, and even for those who like to cut through the critical path and move on, there's a stupid amount of stupid-good content to check out.

Put the nostalgia for games like Final Fantasy VII aside and the truth becomes clear, that there's never been a AAA RPG as deep, mechanically sound or richly absorbing as The Witcher 3.